


'Recipe book'

by kiirotsubasa



Category: Power Rangers Samurai
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2013-10-24
Packaged: 2017-12-30 09:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1016989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiirotsubasa/pseuds/kiirotsubasa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While home alone, Mike stumbles on Mia's 'recipe book'. What he reads triggers a change in a friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'Recipe book'

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PunkPinkPower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkPinkPower/gifts).



> Written for PunkPinkPower as a main gift for Power Ranger Day 2013. I took the prompt and played with it a little, but I hope that you enjoy it nonetheless!

The silence of the Shiba House was beginning to drive Mike crazy. Jayden and Ji had been gone for hours, chasing up some lead on the Sealing Symbol or something, while Kevin got up at the crack of dawn to go jogging and hadn’t come home yet. The girls had gone to the market for vegetables (Emily was beginning to get bored of the veggies growing in the garden and longed for what she liked to call ‘real food’) and fresh pasta. Mia had vaguely mentioned something about going out to eat afterwards, which Mike decided must have been why they had been gone for so long.

And that left Mike, pacing the house. There wasn’t a single game in his collection that he hadn’t beaten, and he didn’t see the point in _Catching ‘em all_ again. He’d already raced his Folding Zord around the garden twice and, having been beaten by the little green bear the second time, really didn’t relish the idea of another round. He was so bored that he’d even entertained the thought of practising his Symbol Power, but that was quickly banished when he realised that his paints were hidden under a pile of clothes that he had no intention of folding and putting away.

And that’s when he saw it.

Laying out on one of the kitchen counters, and open right at the middle, was Mia’s ‘recipe book’. The pink faux-leather book was never unguarded – it was either by Mia’s side while she was cooking or locked away in her room – and the boys had always been puzzled by it. Kevin could never figure out how the cooking was always so…interesting…if Mia was following a recipe to the letter. Jayden, meanwhile, had once spotted her scribbling into the book while she was cooking, leading him to believe that she improvised her recipes and jotted them down on the go.

A smirk flicked across Mike’s lips as he inched his way towards the book, peering back over his shoulder to make sure that no-one was around to see him.

_14 th March_

_Dear Diary…_

“Yes!” Mike pumped his fist into the air in joy, before quickly double-checking that no-one had appeared behind him. Grinning widely, he went back to reading.

_14th March_

_Dear Diary,_

_The others think I don’t know, but it’s obvious. Mentor cooked for us tonight and the relief on their faces when he served the dinner was obvious. Emily said that they were just happy that I was getting a break from the kitchen, but…Do you think I should give up? I love cooking so much, and practise makes perfect, but the others need to like what they’re eating. Maybe it’s selfish of me to keep on going and having my friends dread mealtimes. I don’t know. What do you think I should…_

“Mike!”

Emily’s voice shook the Green Ranger out of his reading as he spun instinctively around. There, clutching bulging grocery bags, stood Mia and Emily. The look of fury on Emily’s face frightened Mike more than any Nighlock could’ve hoped, but Mia merely stood in shock, mouth agape and tears starting to form.

“Mia, I’m so…” Mike started, but he was quickly stopped by the Pink Ranger dashing towards him and snatching the book, her pink shopping spilled all over the floor.

“No, it’s okay,” she replied, snapping the book shut. “It was my own fault for leaving it out. Why wouldn’t you read it?” Emily started to go after her as she ran from the room, but Mike stopped her.

“Let me.” He dropped his head, not daring to make eye contact with the Yellow Ranger. “I owe her an apology.”

*

“Mia? Can I come in?”

“It’s okay, Mike. I forgive you. Just leave me alone for a while.”

“No, it’s not okay. I really shouldn’t have read your diary. It was…I was stupid.” No reply. “And your cooking really isn’t bad.”

In a seemingly single action, Mia’s partition slid open and Mike found himself pulled inside and pushed down into a pink beanbag.

“I’m not stupid, Mike.”

“I never said you…”

“I know I can’t cook.” The confession hung heavy in the air. Mike went to protest, but quickly realised that it wasn’t a good time to try courtesy. “But I like that I can practise on you guys.”

“I…”

“My mom was the best cook,” Mia continued. “Anything my brother or I wanted, no matter how extravagant, she’d make. And it would always be flawless. I really, really wanted to be like her, you know? And she was going to teach me, before she…”

“Mia, I’m sorry I read your diary. I really didn’t…”

“Are you sorry, Mike?” Mike shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Or are you sorry you got caught?”

“What? I…Listen, I didn’t mean to…”

“No, you didn’t mean to. But you did. I didn’t call you in here because I wanted to hear an apology, Mike. I just wanted to explain what you read. Now please go.”

“Excuse me?”

“Please go.”

*

“I don’t know what to do. It’s been…”

“Three days. I know.” Kevin sat across from Mike under the green blanket of their shared kotatsu, dealing his deck of cards.

“I didn’t know…”

“That Mia could get this mad. I know.” After three days, Kevin had this script memorized.

“But what can I do…”

“To make it right? I still don’t know.”

Mike sighed.

“What use are you?”

“Okay, look. You want to talk about what happened? Reading someone’s diary is a pretty crappy thing to do.

“Yeah, so Mia said.”

“Don’t be an idiot, Mike. You knew that before you treated Mia’s life like it was library. But you did it anyway.”

“Yeah, okay Kevin, thanks for stating the obvious. Do I get to stop apologizing now?”

“But that’s the problem, Mike. You haven’t apologized yet.”

“That’s not true, I…”

“You said you were sorry, yeah. You were sorry for getting caught. Gin.”

*

Mia awoke the next morning to the clattering sounds of pots and pans. Tying her robe at the waist, she made her way to the kitchen to find Mike seating himself at the island.

“What’s going on?” she yawned, scratching her head.

“Mia, your cooking sucks.”

“Mike, if you’re just going to be mean, I’m going back to…”

“No, wait!” He jumped up from his stool and grabbed Mia’s arm to stop her from walking away, though a glare made him think better of keeping hold of her. “Look, your diary entry was right. It is important for us to enjoy our food. But it’s also important for you to practise. You know, if you wanna be like your mom…”

“Please, Mike, I was up late last night practising my symbol power and I just want to go back to bed.”

“No, that’s fine, just hear me out. I’ve found a compromise.”

“You have?”

“Yeah. I’ve spoken with Mentor Ji and he’s fine with it too. You’re gonna cook for me.”

“What?”

“Mentor’s gonna cook for the others, including you, and you’re gonna cook for me.”

“So, you go through my belongings and then get a personal chef out of it?”

“Mia, you can’t cook. But I want to help you improve. I can’t teach you anything – my cooking’s awful! But you can practise on me. You can cook for me and then I can tell you what I thought…what I honestly thought…and you can figure out how to improve it next time.”

“Mike, you don’t need to do that.”

“Mia, I’m sorry. Please. Let me make it up to you. I’ll be your guinea pig. Or, maybe, your guinea bear.” Mia couldn’t help but smile at the awful joke.

“Okay. How do eggs sound?”


End file.
